Medications from Miist Therapeutics Secures $7M in Funding to Develop Fast-Acting Treatments
Medications Miist Therapeutics, a trailblazing company focused on the development of physics-based inhaled medicines, has announced that it has secured $7 million in seed funding from a group of investors, including Refactor Capital, 1517 Fund, Freeflow Ventures, Entrepreneur First, and the California Innovation Fund. This investment will help the company push forward its cutting-edge approach to delivering rapid-acting therapies, which are poised to revolutionize the treatment landscape for conditions like smoking addiction and migraines.
Medications Miist Therapeutics has already demonstrated the clinical efficacy of its novel approach and is actively advancing two of its lead assets: MST-01 for smoking addiction and MST-02 for migraine treatment. The company has achieved promising results in Phase 1 clinical trials for MST-01, which highlight the speed of Miist’s therapies. In the study, patients experienced up to 92% symptom relief just two minutes after dosing, showcasing the rapid onset of action that the company is able to deliver.
At the heart of Medications Miist’s breakthrough approach is a proprietary inhaler designed by the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Jeff Schuster, a Berkeley-trained physicist with extensive expertise in aerosol drug delivery. Schuster and his team developed an inhaler capable of generating sterile aqueous drug particles that are small enough to reach the peripheral lungs, where they can be quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Unlike traditional inhalers that use heat to create aerosolized particles, Miist’s inhaler utilizes vibration to generate these particles, ensuring that they consist solely of water (the carrier) and the selected pharmaceutical molecule.
This unique approach allows Medications Miist’s drug particles to travel deep into the lungs, specifically to the peripheral lung regions, where the blood-air barrier is extremely thin—approximately 100 times thinner than a single human hair. This thin barrier enables the particles to pass quickly into the bloodstream, allowing for near-instantaneous absorption. Miist’s clinical data has demonstrated that this method allows drugs to reach peak plasma levels in under 30 seconds—about 100 times faster than the absorption rate of an oral pill.
“Many therapeutic Medications areas today are dominated by oral treatments that take far longer than patients want them to. Take migraines, for instance: when someone is experiencing debilitating symptoms, they don’t want to wait an hour for their pill to start working. Their top priority is getting fast relief, and that’s exactly what we’re in a position to deliver,” said Dalton Signor, CEO and co-founder of Medications Miist Therapeutics. His statement highlights the company’s focus on developing therapies that prioritize speed and efficiency, key factors in improving the patient experience and addressing unmet medical needs.
The investment in Medications Miist Therapeutics was strongly supported by Zal Bilimoria, General Partner at Refactor Capital, who has been one of the earliest and largest backers of the company’s mission. “The Medications Miist team has executed across every phase of development, from early technical research and development to human clinical studies. With the Phase 1 trial results validating the rapid action of their peripheral lung delivery and several active programs already in development, there is a real opportunity here to set a new treatment standard for many conditions,” said Bilimoria. His endorsement reflects the growing confidence in Miist’s innovative platform and its potential to disrupt traditional treatment methods across various therapeutic areas.
Medications Miist’s founding team brings a wealth of experience and diverse expertise, all of which have contributed to the company’s ongoing success. CEO Dalton Signor, who was recruited by Entrepreneur First, began building Miist full time in London before relocating to the Bay Area to establish the company’s headquarters. Eric Ezerins, the company’s Head of R&D, came to Miist after a career focused on ocular biotherapeutic drug delivery. Meanwhile, Jeff Schuster, CTO, was already regarded as one of the foremost technical minds in inhalation drug delivery prior to joining the Miist team. Together, their collective knowledge and skills have propelled Miist toward the forefront of the inhaled therapeutics space.
With the new funding, Medications Miist Therapeutics is now positioned to accelerate the development of its pipeline and bring its innovative solutions one step closer to the nearly 100 million patients worldwide who could benefit from them. In addition to smoking addiction and migraine treatment, the company is exploring other therapeutic areas where its fast-acting, inhalable drug delivery platform could provide significant improvements over traditional treatments.
The implications of Miist’s work are far-reaching. One of the main advantages of inhalable treatments, especially those that act as quickly as Miist’s, is their ability to bypass the gastrointestinal system, where many oral medications are delayed or partially degraded. This leads to faster onset of action, which is particularly important for conditions that require immediate relief, such as acute pain, anxiety, or respiratory distress.
In the case of smoking addiction, for example, MST-01 has the potential to provide smokers with rapid relief from cravings, helping them manage withdrawal symptoms more effectively. Traditional smoking cessation treatments often require prolonged use and take time to show results, but Miist’s inhalable therapies could offer a more immediate solution, giving patients the ability to control their cravings when they need it most.
Similarly, in the case of migraines, MST-02 is designed to offer immediate relief to patients who often find themselves in debilitating pain, waiting for oral medications to take effect. The rapid action of Miist’s inhaled therapies could dramatically improve the patient experience and offer a new standard of care for migraine sufferers who are currently underserved by slower-acting treatments.
Miist Therapeutics is also eyeing the possibility of expanding its platform to other therapeutic areas. The company’s technology could prove valuable for conditions that require rapid drug delivery, such as emergency treatments for allergic reactions, seizures, or asthma attacks. Inhalable therapies that can be absorbed quickly into the bloodstream have the potential to address many different medical needs, providing healthcare professionals and patients with a faster, more efficient alternative to oral or injectable treatments.
As Miist continues to develop its platform, the company is also working to scale up its manufacturing capabilities to ensure that it can meet global demand for its therapies. While the initial focus is on clinical development and validation, the seed funding will also enable Miist to invest in the infrastructure necessary to bring its products to market and deliver them to the millions of patients who need them.
In addition to improving the speed and efficiency of drug delivery, Miist is also dedicated to creating treatments that are easy to use and accessible to a wide range of patients. The inhaler technology is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing patients to administer their medications with minimal effort. This could be particularly important for individuals who may have difficulty with traditional pill forms of medication or injections, such as the elderly or those with chronic conditions.
As the company continues to make strides in its research and development, Miist is poised to disrupt the traditional pharmaceutical landscape and redefine how we think about drug delivery. The combination of speed, efficacy, and accessibility in its therapies positions Miist as a leader in the next generation of medical treatments, with the potential to positively impact the lives of millions of patients around the world.
In conclusion, Miist Therapeutics is at the cutting edge of innovation in the field of inhaled medicines, and its recent $7 million seed funding marks an exciting milestone in the company’s journey. With its fast-acting therapies, Miist is addressing critical gaps in the treatment of conditions like smoking addiction and migraines, offering patients the rapid relief they need when they need it most. The company’s technology has the potential to reshape the way medicines are delivered, making it possible to provide faster, more efficient treatments for a wide range of conditions. With continued investment and research, Miist Therapeutics is well on its way to making a significant impact on global healthcare and improving the lives of millions.
